In recent years, digital video recording has become ubiquitous, whether for entertainment, security or myriad other purposes. This widespread increase in video recording has been spurred at least in part by a reduction in costs for recording equipment and the incorporation of video cameras into mobile devices (e.g., cell phones) favored by consumers. Corporations and businesses are also becoming increasingly reliant on video recording for security and communication. However, recorded video has a key drawback in that it is normally difficult, if not impossible, to reliably authenticate a video.
One of the main issues related to authentication is the determination of the time that a video was recorded. Video cameras are normally equipped with a timer, which automatically indicates the date and time of a recording. However, this information can be easily forged or otherwise falsified at the time of recording or in post-processing. To avoid this, users may place an artifact in the frame when the video is recorded that has a known date of creation (or publication). In theory, the presence of this artifact acts as a certification that the video was not created before the date of creation or publication of the artifact. However, this only provides an unreliable approximation as to the earliest date or time that a video recording may have been created and usually does not provide an upper boundary as to the latest possible date or time that the video may have been created.
As an example, a newspaper published on a specific date may be placed into the frame. This serves as nominal confirmation that the recording was not made in advance of the newspaper's date of publication, as this issue of the newspaper did not exist. However, there is always the possibility that an artifact may be added or removed from a recorded video in post-processing using video manipulation software. As such, this method is not completely reliable when implemented. Also, this method typically requires forethought on the part of the user with respect to selection and use of a suitable artifact at the time of recording. In most cases, absent advance planning, there is unlikely to be a suitable artifact in frame that is suitable for tentative authentication.
Therefore, there exists a need for methods and systems that can reliably authenticate digital video recordings without requiring specific video content (i.e., in-frame artifacts associated with a given date or time), and which are resistant to falsification and manipulation.